That's a rhetorical question.
I'm Jaymee, I'm an English and German double major going into Secondary Education at Michigan State University.
So there is already a little description on your left-hand side, as to what this blog is for. And I'm assuming that the only people who are going to be reading it already know what it is for anyway. However, I will briefly describe it's purposes, incase you accidently stumbled along this blog thinking I might be cool and that you would actually want to follow this blog. In that case, you'll probably change your mind, unless you are extremely interested in the teaching of German culture.
I'm not really sure what else to write here. I mean my life is pretty normal and unexciting. I guess I could expand on some aspects of my life that would affect the writing of this blog.
So as I said, I have to blog about my project for my German 815 course, which I don't really know what it's going to be about except that it has to do with teaching German culture, and that it will (hopefully) be centered around German For Kids, a program at MSU that I volunteer for, where we teach local kids basic German language and culture.
I'm in the secondary Ed program, but I really like working with younger kids. I have lots of experience there. I have a little brother, Noah, who is 7 now and who has taught me a lot in regards to how the brains of little children work. I have a sister Erynn, who is 14 and who has taught me that maybe I regret my decision to go into Secondary Education...but I can hope that not all high schoolers are as...difficult as her. I have a very little sister, Kaylee, who is 6 months old, and I'm sure there is much to learn from the experiences that are to come from that.
^ My Family - Noah, Erynn, Kaylee
I have also roller skated my whole life, since I was about 2 and I have volunteered to help and teach the beginner classes at the roller rink I skate at since I was about 12. I think my desire to teach kind of spurred from this part of my life, because I have wanted to be a skating coach for as long as I can remember. Coaching sort of transfered to teaching, as I got really into reading and writing in high school and decided to be an English major.
^ Me, rollerskating
As for German, I was required to take 2 years proficiency of a foreign language as part of my English major. I chose German because I am a quarter German and the memory of my great-grandmother scolding me in German as a child sticks out very vividly in my mind. And so I have always wanted to learn German - that part of my family's history (though not far behind us) has been a bit forgotten and lost in the generations of Americanization that have come from living in the U.S., but whenever I offer some sort of knowledge of German culture and language, my family is usually very interested and they want to know more.
Yes my last name (Mason) is very English, and I carry that from my dad's side. But my mom is a Buchmann through and through and so I guess my choice of majors, in that way, are very appropriate - English and German. I think this whole German culture project will then be beneficial on many levels as I will be teaching others, and probably learning things about myself at the sametime. Whatever happens, it will be maintained here, for all to see I guess, or more so for Senta (my professor) to see, since I'm sure she is the one who will be reading it most often. I think that's all for now.
Bis spaeter.
Such cute litle siblings you got. And what a range!!!! Wow. Lots of respect for your mom!!!!
ReplyDeleteI noticed that you defined yourself as a quarter German. That is really interesting. Even though I am a quarter Canadian (except that the part of the family in Canada, really went there from Germany, so what does that mean?) and technically I guess I would also be a quarter Polish, since the area of Germany where my grandmother is now part of Poland. She of course did not really speak Polish because when she grew up it was Eastern Prussia. So, the American tradition of describing oneself in regards to ancestry, has always been strange to me. When I first moved here, 11 years ago, it made me very mad. People would tell me that they are German, but they knew no word of German, nothing about the country, and had never set foot in Germany. Too me, that was not German. I never thought about the places where my grandparents were from when I grew up in Germany. I was just a Schwarzwaldmaedel and in the little village I lived for most of my life, I was simply “Schäfle Jules Enkelin” because I was the granddaughter of Julius Flamm who originally came from a farm called Schäflehof, because they had a lot of sheep. That’s who I am, not ¼ Canadian from Bavaria, ¼ East Prussian, ¼ Badisch, and ¼ Märchenstrasse. But the difference in defining one’s place in society between Germany and America is one that has always fascinated me. Why do Americans always describe themselves based on the immigration background of their ancestors, even when the family has lived here for generations? So, let me ask you a personal question. What does it mean to you that you are a quarter German?
Thanks! My siblings are cute (for the most part.) My brother is a half-brother (different dad) and my youngest sister is a half-sister (different mom), so that sort of explains the wide range.
ReplyDeleteThe American phenomenon of heritage identity is a hard one to explain, especially since I AM American and it is not so easy for me to step outside my own experiences and try to give a reason as to why we identify ourselves in such a way.
If I had to take a stab at trying to explain it, however, I would assume it stems from the fact that no one is really FROM America - I mean, we are not NATIVE Americans. There is some sort of identity crisis in that we all stem from different cultures and at the same time share in the American culture. Maybe it's a way of differentiating ourselves.
For me, I find my ancestry interesting because I have great-grandparents on both sides of my family who are from Germany. On my mom's side her grandparents were from Breslau (which, yeah, is now Poland) and on my dad's side his grandparents were also from Germany. I remember Great-Grandma Irmgard quite vividly, and her thick German accent. I guess I feel a connection to my German heritage through her, and through my grandpa (my mom's dad) who always reminds me how great it is to be a "buchmann." So perhaps it's nostalgia that draws me to identify with that part of my heritage.
There are millions of Americans who can trace their ancestry back to Germany. And I understand the frustration you must feel when people say they are "German" when really they just mean that someone from their family tree migrated here during world war I or world war II. I empathize with this frustration more and more, the more I learn German, the language and the culture.
Besides nostalgic purposes, and purposes stemming from attempts to find some sort of identity other than the one that is purely American, I don't know another reason as to why I define myself as a quarter German. It is not really the percentage that is important, but I was interested enough in that part of my family to attempt to learn the language, culture, and history of Germany. I understand more clearly as to why my family interacts the way it does and has some of the traditions that it has - it is German-esque in my opinion.
I love learning about Germany and sharing what I learn with my family and educating them about where our ancestors came from.
That was a drawn out explanation!
It's great that you have that strong connection to Germany through your heritage. It think for us who are from there, it is always difficult to comprehend this strong connection so many generations later. I had to laugh when I read the comment from the German family in California on the topic: "Ich unterhalte mich mit verschiedenen Partygästen. Die meisten haben das Bedürfnis sich bei mir als Repräsentantin Europas für die letzten acht Jahre Politik zu entschuldigen. Dann wird weit ausgeholt über die eigenen deutschen Vorfahren (die hier eigentlich jeder hat!) So erfahre ich zum Beispiel, dass eine von Jackis Nachbarinnen ihre Abstammung von einer Villinger Handwerkerfamilie glasklar bis ins 16. Jahrhundert zurückverfolgen kann. " from http://deimel.blogspot.com/
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